Confession — I’ve said that many times.

I probably didn’t use the words “before it’s ruined,” but my meaning was close enough.

I’ve also been guilty in the past of wanting quaint places to stay quaint — as if they exist purely for my own enjoyment, rather than as places where real people live their real lives. My thinking has evolved over the years, and probably could stand to evolve even more.

Another lament I’ve heard many times among the adventure travel set: “This place just doesn’t feel authentic anymore.” That usually refers to something like a McDonald’s appearing in the heart of a colonial town square. There are likely legitimate gripes about that McDonald’s — especially if its existence is threatening the livelihood of a family-run enterprise that’s been on the corner for generations.

But who gives me, a visitor, the right to say what’s authentic in someone else’s town?

And, by the way, that lovely colonial square isn’t authentic, either. It was forced on earlier inhabitants by, duh, the colonists.

From my experience, these types of remarks are common among us first-world travelers who like to think of ourselves as adventurers. We love the idea of escaping the comforts and commercialism of our worlds.

That’s why I fantasized about visiting Cuba. It seemed like one of the few remaining places where you would not encounter a McDonald’s. Also, since it’s been illegal for Americans to go, sneaking in and out becomes a point of pride, a sort of proof-of-life-as-an-adventurer.

(Turns out, I’m not quite the adventurer I like to think I am … my ex-husband and I were thisclose to jumping on a plane to Cuba from South America when we were spending several months in Ecuador … seemed like an ideal time to hide a trip to Cuba in the non-stamped pages of our passports … but then President Bush threatened to crack down on travel to Cuba and I chickened out.)

There’s nothing wrong with wanting to escape our own cultures.

In fact, I would argue it should be a mandatory experience for every citizen.

But it’s all-too-easy to fall into a mindset that other places need to meet our own expectations of what those other places are supposed to be. And then to feel let down if they’re not. This is not only arrogant, it robs us of experiencing what a place is really like — McDonald’s and all — because we’re too busy looking for what we have decided we’re supposed to see.

Over the years I’ve mellowed a bit in that regard. I can sometimes catch myself now when I start to compare a place to the fantasies in my head.

Natalie’s article is another great reminder.

PS: For a more in-depth discussion of this topic, I recommend my favorite travel book: Vagabonding, by Rolf Potts. To me it’s more life book than travel book — great insights whether or not long-term travel is in your future. To quote Tim Ferriss: “Vagabonding teaches you how to travel (and think), not just for one trip, but for the rest of your life.”

2 Apr 2014

22 May 2013

Intentional Travel In Action

I’ve co-produced a 6-minute web film that offers a fast-paced glimpse of intentional travel in action.

What is “intentional” travel, you ask? (OK, you didn’t ask… but we writers like to put words in your mouth. Get used to it.)

Think of it as a field trip for adults. It’s travel that involves listening to and learning from people from different cultures. It’s travel that includes interaction beyond a country’s typical tourist zones.

It can include a volunteer work project, but it doesn’t have to… in fact, sometimes it’s more meaningful (at least to me) to not have a work assignment. Building a house or painting a building makes us feel good (it’s nice to feel useful), and it can genuinely help a community. But it makes it too easy to arrive in a different culture with the idea: “These people need my help.”

I’d rather arrive with the idea: “These people have something to teach me. I’m interested in them and want to get to know them a bit.”

There are many names for this type of travel:

Transformational Travel

a Listening Tour

a Learning Tour

I like “intentional” because the word focuses on the beginning rather than the end. Transformational assumes a result, while intentional only assumes, well, the intent. (As for the other two, they’re a bit dry.)

And for me, more and more, the intent is to have my eyes opened to anything outside my usual sphere of living.

I partnered with filmmaker and former news cameraman Dave Carstens to create a video that captures what this kind of travel feels like — moments of poignancy, lots of laughter, and always moving moving moving 🙂

And, maybe most important, the privilege of seeing levels of both despair and hope that we couldn’t possibly see without venturing beyond our own lives for just a few weeks.

Here’s a link to the video, in case it doesn’t load up above (I’ve spent the last few hours fighting with my website to try to get the video to load properly… and the site seems to be winning.)

15 Apr 2013

Click above to meet a writer/traveler after my own heart. I stumbled upon his site after googling the phrase “intentional travel.” I’m trying to find a term that describes the kind of travel I’ve been doing lately – the kind of travel that merges wanderlust with a desire to interact with and learn from people around the world.

What do you think of these options:

Intentional travel (this phrase seems to have a built-in audience of people who will get it)

Expansive travel (I like this one, but does it look and sound too much like “expensive”?)

22 Feb 2013

Want to spend time with locals? Take a ‘listening tour’

I met this woman on a recent trip to Nicaragua. She’s a coffee farmer and is active with an organization called La FEM — an all-women’s NGO in northern Nicaragua that promotes ideological, economic and political empowerment of rural women.

If you really want to meet local people when you travel and learn a little about their lives, I highly recommend a “listening tour” — a trip arranged and facilitated by someone who lives there or by an organization. It usually includes an element of education or volunteer activity along the way.

This trip was arranged by a U.S.-based fair trade coffee company called Just Coffee. They called it a Delegation, and it offered a chance to meet the women of the La FEM coffee co-ops, to learn about coffee and about what La FEM is doing to improve the lives of women.

This kind of trip gives a much deeper experience than just traveling around as a tourist. Not to knock tourist travel — after a week with the Just Coffee group, my travel companion and I spent a few days of luxury just chilling at the beach!

30 Jun 2012

Vagabonding is about gaining the courage to loosen your grip on the so-called certainties of this world. Vagabonding is about refusing to exile travel to some other, seemingly more appropriate, time of your life. Vagabonding is about taking control of your circumstances instead of passively waiting for them to decide your fate.

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Travel light.

Efficient, expansive travel requires less, not more.
One bag that serves multiple functions.
A sarong that's also a towel, blanket or sheet.
Clothing layers that pack small and carry light.
A daypack with one-reach access to essentials.
A pocket for my Chapstick.

My OCD

can make me feel encumbered and anxious. But the lighter I travel the more liberated I feel (as long as my Chapstick and water bottle are within reach).

Join me!

"Less" requires planning. For me, honing the art of traveling light is a journey unto itself. And I STILL haven't found the perfect travel bag.

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Disclaimer

The content on this site is based on the personal experiences of an OCD-positive traveler. It is not medical advice. If you think you suffer from anxiety, seek the counsel of a medical professional. Believe me, it helps.